Utricularia purpurea Walter - Purple Bladderwort


 

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Utricularia purpurea - (image 1 of 5)

 

Taxonomy

Family: Lentibulariaceae

Habitat

Quiet water.

Associates

 

 Distribution

Quebec and Nova Scotia to MN and northern IN, south along the coastal plain to FL and LA; also in WI.

Morphology

Herbaceous perennial from turions produced late in the season; stems submersed, to 1 m; leaves in whorls of 5-7, verticillately branched into filiform segments, many of which bear a terminal bladder; flowering branches 3-15 cm with 1-4 flowers each; corolla 1 cm, violet or red-violet, the lower lip with a basal yellow spot, 3-lobed, the lateral lobes strongly and separately elevated at the base into a palate; spur shorter than and appressed to the lower lip.

Notes

Flowers July to September

Wetland indicator: OBL

This species is seemingly common in quiet bays of soft water lakes, though I have only seen it flower once in a spectacular display that can be seen in the last image. Reasonably easy to identify for its brownish-green, dichotomously branched filiform leaves that occur in whorls of 5-7 on the stems.

References

Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.

The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY

 


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 Michael Hough © 2018